Our previous U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,875, entitled “Applanation Tonometer Using Light Reflection To Determine Applanation Area Size”, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,779, entitled “Replaceable Prism System For Applanation Tonometer” U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,647, entitled “Method of Operating Tonometer”, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,778, entitled “Replaceable Prism For Applanation Tonometer” suggest tonometers, tonometer operating methods, and tonometer prisms for measuring intra ocular pressure (IOP) of an eye. Our type of applanation tonometer has an actuator that presses a prism with a variable and determinable force against a cornea of an eye being examined while a source directs light to reflect from an applanation surface of the prism to a detector producing a detected light signal received by a microprocessor.
Our experiments and experiences with working prototypes improving upon the disclosures of our issued patents and pending applications have led to several related discoveries. We have found that by changing and adding to the eye examining procedures that are possible with instruments such as ours we can obtain considerably more diagnostic information than has previously been clinically available. These discoveries involve not only eye examining methods but also structuring and programming a tonometer to perform such methods to obtain new measurements and new information of value to A clinician concerning the health and functioning of an eye being examined. Such improvements are the subject of this application.